Prevent opponents like Meta from digging corners! Apple awards up to $180,000 in equity incentives

In order to prevent employees from jumping ship to rival companies such as Meta, Apple recently issued a rare high stock bonus to engineers.

According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that Apple last week notified employees of silicon design, hardware, select software and operations departments that they will be issued non-cyclical bonuses in the form of restricted shares for a period of four years.

Thus motivating them to stay at Apple.

It is understood that this batch of bonuses is not part of the existing compensation plan, ranging from $50,000 to $180,000, and many engineers are said to receive about $80,000, $100,000 or $12 in stock.

Apple sometimes issues additional cash bonuses to employees, but the latest stock distribution is unusual in size and has an unexpected timing, people familiar with the matter said.

Apple is engaged in a talent war with companies in Silicon Valley and beyond, with Meta the biggest threat. Meta has poached about 100 engineers from Apple in the past few months, and Apple has hired key meta employees. The report notes that Apple and Meta are likely to become fierce competitors in the augmented and virtual reality headset and smartwatch space, with both companies planning to launch large hardware products in the next two years. (Proofreading/Yuki)